How To: Make Shelves Out of Fruit Crates

published Jul 18, 2008
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We love a simple DIY solution, so when we happened across a set of photos explaining how to make cute shelves out of inexpensive (or free, if you’ve got a nose for scavenging) wooden crates, we were all over them. See the final result, along with detailed instructions and photos, below the jump.

Ohdeedoh reader inkstainedwriter uploaded this photo tutorial to flickr, and she’s been kind enough to let us share it with you:

We wanted small bookshelves, but everything we found was pretty expensive. We hit upon a better solution at A.C. Moore where we found fruit crates on sale. We bought six of them and made the shelves out of them. First we cleaned and prepped them.

Then we bought brackets and short screws at Home Depot. We screwed them at the back between each shelf. The wood was thin and there was some cracking, but it turned out pretty solid.

Finally, we bought tiny nails (again, at Home Depot) to nail the front shelves down to the one underneath it.

The final result, in situ and painted a crisp apple green:

See more photos of Nathaniel’s sweet nursery here.